HENNA LITERATURE

HENNA ( LAWSONIA INERMIS ) NATURAL HERB FOR NATURAL BODY ART & HAIR COLOR.
Botanical Name : LAWSONIA INERMIS Family Name: LYTHRACEAE
Common Name: HENNA, AL-KHANNA, AL-HENNA, JAMAICA MIGNONETTE, MEHNDI, MENDEE, EGYPTIAN PRIVET, SMOOTH LAWSONIA
Part Used: FLOWERS, POWDERED LEAVES, FRUIT
Habitat : Scarcely in dry decidious forests, widely cultivated as a hedge plant.
Uses : The roots are bitter , refrigerant, depurative, diuretic, emmenagouge, abortifacient and trichogenous and is useful in burning sensation, leprosy skin diseases and amenorrhoea. It is used in pre mature graying of hair. Henna is widely used for drawing tatoos, arts and designs. Leaves are useful in wounds ulcers strangury cough, bronchitis, dysentery etc. The fruit is thought to have emmenagogue
About Henna
Henna, the plant, scientifically known as Lawsonia inermis has been around for at least 5,000 years. Its exact origin has been difficult to place. It has been claimed by historians that the Mongols brought Henna to India in the 12th century while others say it originated there. Then again they also say it originated in North Africa and the Middle East since ancient times. Archeologists have discovered that Henna was used on Egyptians prior to mummification when they started to find mummies with stained fingers and toes. Henna has only recently been introduced to the West. Many celebrities have made it popular and a noticed art form in America and Europe.

Henna has small, four-petaled flowers ranging from yellow to pink and its leaves produce a red dye. Twice a year the leaves are harvested, dried, and ground into a fine powder. This powder is used to dye hair red and for the ancient eastern art of mehndi. Henna contains hennotannic acid, a dye that bonds with the collagen in skin cells and keratin of fingernails and hair, leaving behind a red coloring.

Henna comes from a plant of the privet family. Henna has been known for centuries for its medicinal properties, as a cosmetic, its use in body art and its superb hair conditioning and coloring properties.

The Henna plant is found in many parts of the world including Australia, the Mediterranean, Africa and also in Southern United States. There are many varieties of the henna plant grown in different regions that result in different coloring properties and different colors of powder.

Pure natural henna powder can be bright to deep green, khaki or brown. Natural pure henna powders renders stains that are orange, red, burgundy, cinnamon, bittersweet chocolate brown, burgundy-black, black cherry and near black colors. BLACK stains are not produced by pure and natural henna powder. Learn more about "Black Henna" and what it can do to you.

Powder from the henna plant can be fine or coarse. Stains from henna powder made into paste are the result of the dye in the henna powder releasing when added to water or lemon juice and then applied to the skin or hair.

Specifications︰

What is Mehndi ?Mehndi (also called Mehandi) is the traditional art of painting the hands, feet or body with a paste made from the powdered, dried leaves of the henna plant (Botanical name : Lawsonia Inermis). It stain's a usually cherry-red to brown color but this can vary with time left on and a range of other factors. Coffee, lemon, tea, and essential oils are sometimes added for texture, smell or to help the stain. Mehndi started in the Middle East and Northern Africa over 5,000 years ago. It has been used for artistic, ritual and ceremonial use. Archaeologists have even found mummies with hennaed hands. It's becoming popular for a pain free, temporary body art here in the states.

MEHNDI is an ancient form of body art that has been practiced in the Middle East, India and parts of Africa for thousands of years. Mehndi is often viewed as a woman's practice though it has indeed been practiced by men. Mehndi is the art of applying designs to the skin through the application of pastes made with henna powder on different parts of the body. Henna was most often applied to the hands and feet.

Henna was first applied as a means to cool down the body. A dot was applied to the palm of the hands and helped to cool the body.

After becoming bored with the look of the single dot on the palm, the early users of henna began to add lines and other shapes. Eventually this elaboration became the beautiful designs we see today.

In the different cultures where the practice of Mehandi flourished, different styles and ways of application developed. There are the fine lines of designs of Pakistan and India. There are the more geometric patterns and designs of Morocco. There are the bold geometric shapes and patterns of various parts of Africa created with a method of tape resist. Mehandi patterns are created with the application of paste with gold rods, plastic cones, plastic bottles with tips, syringes, toothpicks and other tools henna artists have developed to get the job done and express themselves through the art of Mehandi.

Preparation of Henna & direction for use :

TAKE “ HENNA BEAUTY” HENNA POWDER IN A BOWL.

ADD WATER TO IT STIRS IT WITH STRIPPER TO MAKE A THICK UNIFORM PASTE.

PASTE LIKE TOOTHPASTE, SOAK THE HENNA POWDER WITH WATER ONE HOUR BEFORE USE.

Sifting some fresh Henna in a bowl and adding lemon juice until the Henna is a bit clumpy. Let that sit overnight. The next day add a few drops of Eucalyptus oil and fresh coffee or tea until its to the right consistency.

Basic tips while preparing Henna

The first key factor is freshness of your henna. It's hard to tell just from the color. I have seen bright green give an awful stain while a brownish-olive green gave a fabulous color. Buy from a reputable dealer is the best suggestion here. With fresh henna, the better, darker, longer lasting stain you will get. It can keep in your freezer in a airtight zip lock (in a brown bag or aluminum foil) for up to a year.

1... If you have in sifted henna, the first thing is to sift! This is very important so you won't get tiny fibers clogging your cone (or bottle). Do this 2-3 times.

2... In a ceramic bowl place about 2 tablespoons henna powder. Add enough lemon juice to make a thick paste (anything acidic will work, lemon, lime, tamarind, etc.) Let this sit over night covered with plastic wrap. (The colder it is the longer it will have to sit. at 75 degrees about 12-15 hours, 95 degrees as little as 1 hours) HINT: If you have a gas stove with a pilot light its about 95 in there and will only take about 1-2 hours.

3... You can tell when its done by the surface. It will have a brown appearance and there will be brown liquid in places. You can also let it sit in a zip lock with a paper towel under it and when its done it will stain the towel. The henna tonic dye is small enough to pass through the zip lock (This hint is Catherine Cartwright consistency of toothpaste. (Also you can use lemon, eucalyptus oil, cloves etc) You can strain it again at this point. This trick really works great! (Maison Kenzi came up with this idea) Take panty hose, or a piece of cheesecloth and fill with a few tablespoons of henna paste. Place inside a zip lock bag and squeeze and twist until filtered through the cloth. Squeeze the paste down to corner of the zip lock bag and snip the corner for easy no mess transfer to a bottle or bag to apply.

4... So its ready. now what? You can use a number of things to apply henna with. A cone, carrot bag, syringes, jacquard bottles. I personally use the carrot bag or a cone. Put your henna in your bag and your ready. Choose a design and henna it. You can use a toothpick to fix small boo-boo's you might get.

5... When your done or as you go depending on how fast it dries you can do a few different things. (these are a matter of personal style and like ) You can choose to let it dry and flake off on it's own, or apply lemon and sugar mix (2 tsp lemon, 1 tsp sugar, 2tsp water) once it it fairly dry (so you don't smash the design) to keep it on and moist. You will need to reapply when it looks like its starting to dry. Liquid latex, and new skin are also acceptable. (advice: don't put latex where there is hair OUCH! Don't use if you have an allergy to it)

6... You can choose to wrap it now to help it stay on and get a beautiful dark stain. It helps the henna stay in place and keeps the skin moist and warm. Wrap the area with toilet paper firmly but not to tight, careful not to dislodge your henna. Wrap this with saran wrap and tape. (should be like as firm as an ace bandage.) Sleep in it.. You should leave henna on as long as possible. Min of 3 hours.

7... When your ready to take it off cut off the wraps. You can steam it to help loosen the henna (also helps make darker) and scrape it off or use a little oil (eucalyptus or olive) to wipe it off.

8... Do not get wet for 12 hours at least. It will not darken properly if you do. After that you can help staying time by using the oil rubbed onto it before you bathe to repel the water. DO NOT use Vaseline, mineral oils. These will fade the stain. Other things that will fade it are bleach, detergents etc.. Different areas take the stain better ..hands and feet are excellent while arms, back, chest areas don't stain as well. They can last 1-3 weeks (sometimes a little longer) depending on the care you take of them.

The henna plant (Lawsonia Alba) is a heavily scented evergreen shrub of about six meters in height and bears narrow pointed leaves with clusters of small white or pink flowers and blue berries.

Three main colors red, black, and neutral are derived from the leaves, roots, and branches, respectively. Different parts of the shrub contain some of the powerful dye, lawsone, black and neutral henna, containing reddish tints. Branches are harvested and dried under the open sky and leaves grounded into fine powder. This shrub is also used as a hedge to protect crops and orchards from the animals. In Sindh, henna is cultivated in Tharoshah (Naushero Feroze district) and Mehar in Dadu.

Production practices: The basic objective of a grower is to get higher production through proper management practices and production technology. Production of any commodity depends on the combination of different inputs and resources allocation.

The emphasis has been given on qualitative and quantitative analysis of production practices adopted by henna growers and the identification of technical and socio-economic factors in it's production. The basic data collected in the study area is produced here. However the scope of an advanced research is required which could not be undertaken due to the limited resource.

Land preparation is the initial task for crop cultivation. It varies from one grower to another. It is found that most growers apply one to two deep ploughing for opening the soil surface. After deep ploughing, land is left for few days to get air and sunlight. They then use gobble, followed by 1-2 cultivators. Majority 98 per cent level their land while 2 per cent don't. A grower spends about Rs.50000/ hac on ploughing and leveling.

Seed rate varies from farm to farm and one to another grower, which ranges between 10-20 kg with an average 15 kg /acre. The source of seed is identified as own, neighboring growers and from the local market. The cost of seed comes to about Rs.400/kg to with an average of Rs.500/kg.

The size of henna nursery varies, ranging from few plants to few acres. There is minimum cost involved in raising a henna nursery. The growers describe that they buy the seed from the factories and growers at the rate of Rs 600/kg. They then thresh, clean and separate seeds from the leaves. The leaves are sold to factories for grinding and seed for nursery growing.

Soon after broadcasting, regular irrigation is needed until the seeds germinate. Growers usually start raising of nursery in March and continue up to May. Within two months henna nursery becomes ready for transplanting. There are two method of henna sowing. The most common is transplanting on ridges, followed by broadcasting on plain land.

Application of farm yard manure is necessary to keep the plant healthy, vigorous and productive because it fulfills the nutritional requirements. Soil fertility levels need to be maintained. There are no recommendations available to guide the grower for the efficient use of chemical fertilizer. Growers use fertilizer on their own. There is a lack of interest among the concerned department to do research on high potential crops.

Weeding is necessary as these compete with plants for minerals, nutrients, water and light. Weeds utilize food nutrients for their growth and the yield is reduced. Proper spacing helps in the development of healthy crops. Harvesting at the right stage of maturity is necessary to achieve better quality and quantity. Recommendations: Findings reveal that henna cultivation in Naushero Feroze has great potential because of better economic returns.

The crop has tremendous scope for further expansion as the big growers intend to enhance area under this crop because, once this crop is established its production remains for longer period without initial costs. Second they want to get rid from tenants because this crop can easily be supervised with the hired labor as compared to other seasonal crops grown in the area.

Its processing and marketing system has been established in the nearby towns, where from wholesalers buy the produce from the field, hence farmers do not pay for packing, transportation and other costs for marketing.

Timely and adequate use of chemical fertilizer, pesticide and irrigation are important to achieve better crop yield. Availability of one variety and traditionally managed operations are main factors which limit henna productivity in the study area. There is no credit facility for henna growers which hinders their performance. It is, therefore, suggested that the provision of seasonal credit through institutions such as the commercial banks and Zarai Taraquiati Bank may be started among growers and processing factories.